Board and Staff

Executive Committee

Carolin Otto

President

GERMANY / Carolin has been a script writer and director since 1995. She studied directing and writing at the Munich Filmschool HFF and did a PHD at Weimar Bauhaus University on the Art of Writing Biopics (AMOR MUNDI: Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger). She has worked as a scriptwriter on numerous projects such as Polizeiruf Um Kopf Und Kragen, Tatort The Finger, TV-Shows such as Lena Lorenz, München 7, and the TV-movies Vergessene Küsse, Bier Royal among others. She was writer, director and producer on the feature film Aphrodites Nacht (Aphrodite’s Night) and Der Weisse Rabe (The White Raven). She was member of the board of VDD from 2007-2015, head of the script funding commission of the German Film Board from 2009-2013 and a member of the board of FSE since 2013.

Maciej Karpinski

Vice-President

POLAND / Maciej Karpinski is a leading screenwriter in Poland and the author of An Imperfect Reflection– a book on screenwriting. He has written screenplays for 17 feature films and worked with such acclaimed directors like Andrzej Wajda (Nastassya, The Ring with the Crowned Eagle), Agnieszka Holland (Solitary Woman) and Volker Schlondorf (Strike). His films have won a number of national and international awards, including Prix Europa for The Miracle of Purim. He is the President of Polish Screenwriters Guild, Board Member of FSE, and a member of the European Film Academy.

Jacob Groll

Board member

AUSTRIA / Jacob Groll was born and raised in Vienna, educated in New York, Denmark and Los Angeles. His limited series Janus won numerous international awards (and could have won more - but if you wanna loose, at least do it against Steven Knight and his amazing Peaky F*cking Blinders :-) )
For a US-remake of Janus, a pilot script was commissioned by Luc Besson‘s Europa and ABC Network via Paradigm Agency. Jacob also writes for various European Shows and like Alexandre (read on to the right), he got hooked on the Writers Room by Frank Spotnitz and Simon Mirren at EPI/MediaXchange‘s Series Lab. But enough with the name-dropping – Jacob is a new member of the FSE board, back home he also serves on the board of the Screenwriters Association.

Alexandre Manneville

Board member

FRANCE / Alexandre has been working as a screenwriter, first for animated series, before moving to Berlin in 2013 to experience the "writers'​ room"​ and learn about the European coproduction TV market through the "Serial Eyes" program (where he was mentored, among others by former "X-Files" EP Frank Spotnitz). Back to France a year later, he started to take headwriting gigs for animation, while developing dramas for France and the copro market. He’s recently been hired to write on “En Thérapie”, the French adaptation of “In Treatment”.

Ana Pineda

Board member

SPAIN / Ana is CEO of ALMA, the Writers Guild of Spain. She holds a degree in Law and a master’s degree in Taxation from the University of Navarra, a master’s in Sociology (UNED) and graduated in Fund Raising Studies at Indiana University. In 2017 ALMA decided to appoint her CEO to take its development forward. Since then, ALMA has increased membership by 43%, significantly improved representation and consolidated as a sector reference. It has achieved key changes in legislation and public funding framework, extended its role in FSE and entered the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds in 2019.

Gail Renard

Board member

UNITED-KINGDOM / Gail Renard is a BAFTA award winning screenwriter and former Chair of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain as well as a former board member of ALCS.
She has written hundreds of comedy and children's television shows, including the globally popular FAMOUS FIVE series. She's currently writing and co-producing a new children's puppet series, MONTY & CO.
She's also working on the film script of her book, GIVE ME A CHANCE, based on her true story of sneaking into John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-In for peace in Montreal when she was 16.
It was John Lennon who taught Gail to stand up for people's rights. She hopes to continue to do so as a board member of the FSE.

Nikolaj Scherfig

Board member

DENMARK / Nikolaj is a Danish screenwriter, graduate of the Danish Film School. He has written scripts for documentaries, features and television series, before dedicating most of his time to writing crime series : 'The Bridge'(2011-2018) and Heartless (2014). He is also featured as script consultant on a number of Danish features such as 'The Cartel' (2014) and 'The Idealist' (2015).

Team

David Kavanagh

Executive Officer

FSE policy and lobbying, European Affairs

David worked as CEO of the Writers Guild of Ireland, Film Officer of the Arts Council of Ireland, Chief Executive of the Irish Film Institute and General Secretary of the European Script Fund. He was a Board Member of the Light House Cinema Exhibition and Distribution Company. He is a member of the Irish Film and Television Academy and the European Film Academy.

Amélie Clément

Project Officer

Coordination of projects and events, communication, office management

Amélie worked for many years in Arts management in France and Belgium, focused mostly in the field of Performing Arts on behalf of European cultural networks (ietm, Fonds Roberto Cimetta, IYMF). On the artistic side, she freelances in illustration, comics and graphic design. She collaborates part-time with FSE since 2009.